AFC Asian Cup

Founded	1956
Region	Asia (AFC)
Number of teams	16
Current champions	Japan (4th Title)
Most successful team	Japan (4 Titles)
2015 AFC Asian Cup qualification

The AFC Asian Cup is an international association football tournament run by the Asian Football Confederation (AFC). It is the second oldest continental football championship in the world after Copa América. The winning team becomes the champion of Asia and automatically qualifies for the FIFA Confederations Cup.

The Asian Cup was held once every four years from 1956 in Hong Kong until 2004 in China. However, since the Summer Olympic Games and the European Football Championship were also scheduled in the same year as the Asian Cup (2004, 2008, 2012 etc.), the AFC decided to move their championship to a less crowded cycle. After 2004, the tournament was held in 2007 co-hosted by four nations: (Indonesia, Malaysia, Thailand, Vietnam), and thereafter will be held every four years.

The Asian Cup has generally been dominated by the top teams from East or West Asia. Initially successful teams were South Korea and Iran. Recently Japan and Saudi Arabia are the successful teams and often earned a spot for themselves in the final matches. Other teams which have achieved success at times include Israel (no longer a member of the AFC), Iraq, and Kuwait.

Australia is the most recent nation to join the Asian confederation in 2007.^[1]

Results[link]

Summaries[link]

Note: (RR) = played as round-robin format

Year	Host		Final				Third Place Match
			Champions	Score	Runners-Up		Third Place	Score	Fourth Place
1956 Details	Hong Kong		South Korea	(RR)	Israel		Hong Kong	(RR)	South Vietnam
1960 Details	South Korea		South Korea	(RR)	Israel		Republic of China	(RR)	South Vietnam
1964 Details	Israel		Israel	(RR)	India		South Korea	(RR)	Hong Kong
1968 Details	Iran		Iran	(RR)	Burma		Israel	(RR)	Republic of China
1972 Details	Thailand		Iran	2–1 aet	South Korea		Thailand	2–2 aet (5–3) pen	Khmer Republic
1976 Details	Iran		Iran	1–0	Kuwait		China PR	1–0	Iraq
1980 Details	Kuwait		Kuwait	3–0	South Korea		Iran	3–0	North Korea
1984 Details	Singapore		Saudi Arabia	2–0	China PR		Kuwait	1–1 (5–3) pen	Iran
1988 Details	Qatar		Saudi Arabia	0–0 aet (4–3) pen	South Korea		Iran	0–0 aet (3–0) pen	China PR
1992 Details	Japan		Japan	1–0	Saudi Arabia		China PR	1–1 (4–3) pen	United Arab Emirates
1996 Details	UAE		Saudi Arabia	0–0 aet (4–2) pen	United Arab Emirates		Iran	1–1 (3–2) pen	Kuwait
2000 Details	Lebanon		Japan	1–0	Saudi Arabia		South Korea	1–0	China PR
2004 Details	China		Japan	3–1	China PR		Iran	4–2	Bahrain
2007 Details	Indonesia  Malaysia  Thailand  Vietnam		Iraq	1–0	Saudi Arabia		South Korea	0–0 aet (6–5) pen	Japan
2011 Details	Qatar		Japan	1–0 aet	Australia		South Korea	3–2	Uzbekistan
2015 Details	Australia		To be played				To be played

Most successful national teams[link]

Team	Champions	Runners-Up	Third-Place	Fourth-Place
Japan	4 (1992*, 2000, 2004, 2011)	-	-	1 (2007)
Saudi Arabia	3 (1984, 1988, 1996)	3 (1992, 2000, 2007)	-	-
Iran	3 (1968*, 1972, 1976*)	-	4 (1980, 1988, 1996, 2004)	1 (1984)
South Korea	2 (1956, 1960*)	3 (1972, 1980, 1988)	4 (1964, 2000, 2007, 2011)	-
Israel	1 (1964*)	2 (1956, 1960)	1 (1968)	-
Kuwait	1 (1980*)	1 (1976)	1 (1984)	1 (1996)
Iraq	1 (2007)	-	-	1 (1976)
China PR	-	2 (1984, 2004*)	2 (1992, 1976)	2 (1988, 2000)
United Arab Emirates	-	1 (1996*)	-	1 (1992)
India	-	1 (1964)	-	-
Myanmar ^	-	1 (1968)	-	-
Australia	-	1 (2011)	-	-
Hong Kong	-	-	1 (1956*)	1 (1964)
Chinese Taipei	-	-	1 (1960)	1 (1968)
Thailand	-	-	1 (1972*)	-
South Vietnam	-	-	-	2 (1956, 1960)
Cambodia ^^	-	-	-	1 (1972)
North Korea	-	-	-	1 (1980)
Bahrain	-	-	-	1 (2004)
Uzbekistan	-	-	-	1 (2011)

* as hosts

# Israel was expelled from the AFC in the early 1970s^[2] and eventually became a member of UEFA.

^ Formerly Burma.

^^ Formerly Khmer Republic.

Results of host nations[link]

Year	Host nation	Finish
1956	Hong Kong	Third Place
1960	South Korea	Champions
1964	Israel	Champions
1968	Iran	Champions
1972	Thailand	Third Place
1976	Iran	Champions
1980	Kuwait	Champions
1984	Singapore	Group Stage
1988	Qatar	Group Stage
1992	Japan	Champions
1996	United Arab Emirates	Runners-up
2000	Lebanon	Group Stage
2004	China PR	Runners-up
2007	Vietnam	Quarter-Final
	Indonesia	Group Stage
	Thailand	Group Stage
	Malaysia	Group Stage
2011	Qatar	Quarter-Final
2015	Australia	To be decided

Results of defending champions[link]

Year	Defending champions	Finish
1956	—	—
1960	South Korea	Champions
1964	South Korea	Third Place
1968	Israel	Third Place
1972	Iran	Champions
1976	Iran	Champions
1980	Iran	Third Place
1984	Kuwait	Third Place
1988	Saudi Arabia	Champions
1992	Saudi Arabia	Runners-up
1996	Japan	Quarter-Final
2000	Saudi Arabia	Runners-up
2004	Japan	Champions
2007	Japan	Fourth Place
2011	Iraq	Quarter-Final
2015	Japan

Best performances by region[link]

Awards[link]

Most Valuable Players[link]

Year	Player
1956	No Award
1960	No Award
1964	No Award
1968	No Award
1972	No Award
1976	No Award
1980	No Award
1984	Jia Xiuquan
1988	Kim Joo-Sung
1992	Kazuyoshi Miura
1996	Khodadad Azizi
2000	Hiroshi Nanami
2004	Shunsuke Nakamura
2007	Younis Mahmoud
2011	Keisuke Honda

Top scorers[link]

Year	Player	Goals
1956	Nahum Stelmach	4
1960	Cho Yoon-Ok	4
1964	Inder Singh Mordechai Spiegler	2
1968	Homayoun Behzadi Moshe Romano Giora Spiegel	4
1972	Hossein Kalani	5
1976	Gholam Hossein Mazloumi Nasser Nouraei Fatehi Kamil	3
1980	Behtash Fariba Choi Soon-Ho	7
1984	Jia Xiuquan Shahrokh Bayani Nasser Mohammadkhani	3
1988	Lee Tae-Ho	3
1992	Fahad Al-Bishi	3
1996	Ali Daei	8
2000	Lee Dong-Gook	6
2004	A'ala Hubail Ali Karimi	5
2007	Younis Mahmoud Naohiro Takahara Yasser Al-Qahtani	4
2011	Koo Ja-Cheol	5

Fair Play Awards[link]

Year	Nations
1984	China PR
1996	Iran
2000	Saudi Arabia
2004	China PR
2007	Japan
2011	South Korea

Records and statistics[link]

Overall top goalscorers[link]

Goals	Scorers
14	Ali Daei
10	Lee Dong-Gook
9	Naohiro Takahara
8	Jassem Al-Houwaidi
7	Behtash Fariba, Hossein Kalani, Choi Soon-Ho, Faisal Al-Dakhil
6	Yasser Al-Qahtani, Alexander Geynrikh
5	Younis Mahmoud, A'ala Hubail, Ismael Abdullatif, Ali Karimi, Ali Jabbari, Akinori Nishizawa, Woo Sang-Kwon, Hwang Sun-Hong, Koo Ja-Cheol, Nahum Stelmach, Shao Jiayi

Hat-tricks[link]

A hat-trick is achieved when the same player scores three or more goals in one match. Listed in chronological order.

Sequence	Player	No. of goals	Time of goals	Representing	Final score	Opponent	Tournament	Round
&100000000000000010000001.	Kalani, HosseinHossein Kalani	3	34', 70', 78'	Iran	3–0	Iraq	1972	Group stage
&100000000000000020000002.	Jabbari, AliAli Jabbari	3	80', 86', 88'	Iran	3–2	Thailand	1972	Group stage
&100000000000000030000003.	Mazloumi, Gholam HosseinGholam Hossein Mazloumi	3	63', 74', 80'	Iran	8–0	South Yemen	1976	Group stage
&100000000000000040000004.	Fariba, BehtashBehtash Fariba	4	11', 34', 80', 82'	Iran	7–0	Bangladesh	1980	Group stage
&100000000000000050000005.	Soon-Ho, ChoiChoi Soon-Ho	3	26', 53', 78'(P)	South Korea	4–1	United Arab Emirates	1980	Group stage
&100000000000000060000006.	Xiangfu, ShenShen Xiangfu	3		China PR	6–0	Bangladesh	1980	Group stage
&100000000000000070000007.	Yonglai, XuXu Yonglai	3		China PR	6–0	Bangladesh	1980	Group stage
&100000000000000080000008.	Daei, AliAli Daei	4	66', 76', 83', 89'(P)	Iran	6–2	South Korea	1996	Quarter-finals
&100000000000000090000009.	Nishizawa, AkinoriAkinori Nishizawa	3	14', 25', 49'	Japan	8–1	Uzbekistan	2000	Group stage
&1000000000000001000000010.	Takahara, NaohiroNaohiro Takahara	3	18', 20', 57'	Japan	8–1	Uzbekistan	2000	Group stage
&1000000000000001100000011.	Dong-Gook, LeeLee Dong-Gook	3	30', 76', 90+1'	South Korea	3–0	Indonesia	2000	Group stage
&1000000000000001200000012.	Al-Shalhoub, MohammadMohammad Al-Shalhoub	3	35', 78', 86'	Saudi Arabia	5–0	Uzbekistan	2000	Group stage
&1000000000000001300000013.	Karimi, AliAli Karimi	3	10', 20', 77'	Iran	4–3	South Korea	2004	Quarter-finals
&1000000000000001400000014.	Abdullatif, IsmaeelIsmaeel Abdullatif	4	16', 19', 35', 77'	Bahrain	5–2	India	2011	Group stage
&1000000000000001500000015.	Okazaki, ShinjiShinji Okazaki	3	8', 13', 80'	Japan	5–0	Saudi Arabia	2011	Group stage

Most tournaments appeared[link]

The tabulated below is the players who had appeared more than four times in the history of tournament

Played	Name	Tournaments
4	Mehdi Mahdavikia	1996, 2000, 2004, 2007
4	Li Ming	1992, 1996, 2000, 2004
4	Adnan Al-Talyani	1984, 1988, 1992, 1996

AFC Asian Cup winning managers[link]

Year	Head coach	Champions
1956	Lee Yoo-Hyung	South Korea
1960	Wui Hye-Deok	South Korea
1964	Yosef Merimovich	Israel
1968	Mahmoud Bayati	Iran
1972	Mohammad Ranjbar	Iran
1976	Heshmat Mohajerani	Iran
1980	Carlos Alberto Parreira	Kuwait
1984	Khalil Al-Zayani	Saudi Arabia
1988	Carlos Alberto Parreira	Saudi Arabia
1992	Hans Ooft	Japan
1996	Nelo Vingada	Saudi Arabia
2000	Philippe Troussier	Japan
2004	Zico	Japan
2007	Jorvan Vieira	Iraq
2011	Alberto Zaccheroni	Japan

Score[link]

• Most goals scored in one match, one team: Iran 8–0 South Yemen in 1976
• Most goals scored in one match, both teams: Japan 8–1 Uzbekistan in 2000

Attendance[link]

Year	Host nation	Mpd	Total Att.	Avg Att.
1992	Japan	16	316,496	19,781
1996	United Arab Emirates	26	398,008	15,308
2000	Lebanon	26	230,490	8,865
2004	China PR	32	1,020,050	31,877
2007	Vietnam  Indonesia  Thailand  Malaysia	32	724,222	22,632
2011	Qatar	32	405,361	12,668

Participating nations[link]

Team	1956	1960	1964	1968	1972	1976	1980	1984	1988	1992	1996	2000	2004	2007	2011	2015	Years
Australia														QF	2nd	q	3
Bahrain									GS				4th	GS	GS		4
Bangladesh							GS										1
Cambodia					4th												1
China PR						3rd	GS	2nd	4th	3rd	QF	4th	2nd	GS	GS		10
Chinese Taipei		3rd		4th													2
Hong Kong	3rd		4th	5th													3
India			2nd					GS							GS		3
Indonesia											GS	GS	GS	GS			4
Iran				1st	1st	1st	3rd	4th	3rd	GS	3rd	QF	3rd	QF	QF		12
Iraq					GS	4th					QF	QF	QF	1st	QF		7
Israel	2nd	2nd	1st	3rd													4
Japan									GS	1st	QF	1st	1st	4th	1st	q	8
Jordan													QF		QF		2
Kuwait					GS	2nd	1st	3rd	GS		4th	QF	GS		GS		9
Lebanon												GS					1
Malaysia						GS	GS							GS			3
Myanmar				2nd													1
North Korea							4th			GS					GS	q	4
Oman													GS	GS			2
Qatar							GS	GS	GS	GS		QF	GS	GS	QF		8
Saudi Arabia								1st	1st	2nd	1st	2nd	GS	2nd	GS		8
Singapore								GS									1
South Korea	1st	1st	3rd		2nd		2nd	GS	2nd		QF	3rd	QF	3rd	3rd	q	13
South Vietnam	4th	4th															2
South Yemen						GS											1
Syria							GS	GS	GS		GS				GS		5
Thailand					3rd					GS	GS	GS	GS	GS			6
Turkmenistan													GS				1
United Arab Emirates							GS	GS	GS	4th	2nd		GS	GS	GS		8
Uzbekistan											GS	GS	QF	QF	4th		5
Vietnam														QF			1
Total	4	4	4	5	6	6	10	10	10	8	12	12	16	16	16	16

Legend

• 1st – Champions
• 2nd – Runners-up
• 3rd – Third place
• 4th – Fourth place
• QF – Quarter Finals
• GS – Group stage
• q – Qualified
•     — Hosts

Qualification participating nations by year of first participation[link]

• 2011:None
• 2007: Australia
• 2004: Timor-Leste
• 2000: Palestine,  Laos,  Bhutan,  Mongolia
• 1996: Guam,  Kazakhstan,  Turkmenistan,  Uzbekistan,  Tajikistan,  Kyrgyzstan,  Vietnam,  Yemen,  Maldives
• 1992:None
• 1988:None
• 1984: North Yemen,  Pakistan,  Oman,  Nepal
• 1980: Bangladesh,  Macau,  United Arab Emirates
• 1976:22x20px Afghanistan,  South Yemen,  North Korea,  China PR,  Saudi Arabia,  Qatar
• 1972: Brunei,  Iraq,  Sri Lanka,  Jordan,  Lebanon,  Syria,  Kuwait,  Bahrain
• 1968: Thailand,  Japan,  Indonesia,  Burma
• 1964:None
• 1960: Singapore,  Hong Kong,  India,  Pakistan,  Iran
• 1956: South Korea,  Philippines,  Republic of China,  Malaya,  Cambodia,  South Vietnam,  Israel

General Statistics[link]

Team	Part	Pld	W	D	L	GF	GA	Dif	Pts	Avg GF	Avg GA	Avg Pts
Iran	12	58	34	17	7	112	42	+70	119	9.33	3.41	9.92
South Korea	12	56	27	16	13	92	60	+32	97	7.66	5.00	8.08
Japan	7	37	21	11	5	72	37	+35	74	10.28	5.28	10.57
Saudi Arabia	8	41	18	13	10	58	40	+18	67	7.25	5.00	8.37
China PR	10	47	17	13	17	76	54	+22	64	7.60	5.40	6.40
Kuwait	9	39	15	10	14	46	45	+1	55	5.11	5.00	6.11
Iraq	7	29	11	6	12	30	33	-3	39	4.28	4.71	5.57
United Arab Emirates	8	32	9	8	15	23	43	-20	35	2.87	5.37	4.37
Uzbekistan	5	20	9	3	8	30	39	-9	30	6.00	7.80	6.00
Qatar	8	29	6	11	12	31	39	-8	29	3.87	4.87	3.62
Israel	4	13	9	0	4	28	15	+13	27	7.00	3.75	6.75
Syria	5	18	7	2	9	15	23	-8	23	3.00	4.60	4.60
Australia	2	10	5	3	2	20	7	+13	18	10.00	3.50	9.00
Bahrain	4	16	3	5	8	23	29	-6	14	5.75	7.25	3.50
Jordan	2	8	3	4	1	8	5	+3	13	3.00	3.00	6.50
North Korea	3	12	3	2	7	12	19	-7	11	4.00	6.33	3.66
Thailand	6	20	1	8	11	15	45	-30	11	2.50	7.50	1.83
Indonesia	4	12	2	2	8	10	28	-18	8	2.50	7.00	2.00
Myanmar	1	4	2	1	1	5	4	+1	7	5.00	4.00	7.00
India	3	10	2	1	7	8	23	-15	7	2.66	7.66	2.33
Oman	2	6	1	3	2	5	6	-1	6	2.50	3.00	3.00
Malaysia	3	9	1	3	5	7	20	-13	6	2.33	6.67	2.00
Chinese Taipei	2	7	1	2	4	5	12	-7	5	2.50	6.00	2.50
Singapore	1	4	1	1	2	3	4	-1	4	3.00	4.00	4.00
Vietnam	1	4	1	1	2	4	7	-3	4	4.00	7.00	4.00
Cambodia	1	5	1	1	3	8	10	-2	4	8.00	10.00	4.00
Hong Kong	3	10	0	3	7	9	23	-14	3	3.00	7.67	1.00
Lebanon	1	3	0	2	1	3	7	-4	2	3.00	7.00	2.00
Turkmenistan	1	3	0	1	2	4	6	-2	1	4.00	6.00	1.00
South Vietnam	2	6	0	1	5	8	21	-13	1	4.00	10.50	0.50
South Yemen	1	2	0	0	2	0	9	-9	0	0.00	9.00	0.00
Bangladesh	1	4	0	0	4	2	17	-15	0	2.00	17.00	0.00